↑
  • Start Here
  • Recipe Index
  • Travel Index
  • Lifestyle
  • Disclosures
  • Contact
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Easy Peasy Meals

Easy Recipes, Slow Cooker Meals, Meal Planning & Meal Prep

  • About
  • Contact
  • Start Here
  • Disclosures
    • Privacy + Ad Policy
  • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Lifestyle
  • Nav Widget Area

  • Start Here
  • Recipe Index
  • Course
    • Appetizers
    • Breakfast
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Sides
    • Dessert
  • Method
    • Air fryer
    • Instant Pot
    • Skillet
    • Sheet Pan
    • Slow Cooker
    • Grill / Smoker
  • Holiday
    • Valentine’s Day
    • St. Patrick’s Day
    • Easter
    • Mother’s Day
    • Father’s Day
    • 4th of July
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
    • NYE
  • Protein
    • Chicken
    • Beef
    • Turkey
    • Pork
    • Fish
    • Vegetarian
  • Low-Carb
Home » Lifestyle » Iowa Corn
This post may contain affiliate links. See my Full Disclosure for further details.
Lifestyle

Iowa Corn

By Rachael | Updated on October 26, 2018

21shares
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Yummly

This post is sponsored by Iowa Corn, all opinions are my own.

Earlier this month one of the Eazy Peazy Mealz team members were lucky enough to join Iowa Corn on a Corn Quest, and spend a few days in the lovely state of Iowa where she learned all about corn! Spoiler, corn isn’t just a delicious food for eating, it’s used in animal grain, whiskey, ethanol fuel, sugar, and more.

Iowa Corn- how farmers care for and make their crops

One of the parts of this food blogging gig I love the most is the education piece. As a busy mom, I do not take enough time to always educate myself about the food I purchase. As a blogger, I have had countless opportunities to really go behind the scenes, meet the farmers, the cheese makers, the pasta makers, and more, and learn more about the foods that are being produced and consumed around the world. And I love being able to share some of that with you all.

For example, did you know:

  • Last year, Iowa corn farmers grew 2.7 billion bushels of corn on 13.5 million acres of land. At 56
    pounds per bushel, that’s over 150 billion pounds of field!
  • In Iowa, over 97% of the corn is grown on a family farm.
  • Less than 1 percent of corn grown in Iowa is sweet corn, about 3,400 acres. So what else is corn used for than straight up eating? Most of Iowa’s corn goes into animal feed and ethanol production, but it’s also used to make starches, sweeteners and over 4,000 everyday products.

A bunch of bloggers in an Iowa Corn Field

Corn–More than Food

One of the biggest take-aways I had from the Corn Quest is that corn, and the farmers that grow it, impact my life far more than I ever realized.

Corn is used in so many different ways, and is extremely helpful in our lives. I feel so much love and appreciation for the hardworking farmers in America, and for the crops, they grow that impact so many areas of my life and yours.

I was lucky enough to get to meet with a couple of those farmers while out in Iowa and let me tell you, they are amazing! I learned so much from them and now I’m excited to share some of that knowledge with all of you.

How is Iowa Corn used?

Here are a few things I learned on this trip:

  • Corn Farmers Are Dedicated:
    These farmers are dedicated, to their animals, their crops, and their missions for sustainability, cleanliness, and safety. They are dedicated to their farms, their animals, their families, but more than that, they are dedicated to helping this country and even the world become better, cleaner, and safer. The corn that they grow helps in so many areas of our lives, like food for humans and animals, as well as a fuel for our cars and homes. Farm in Iowa, where corn is grown
  • Corn can produce Cleaner Energy:
    Let’s chat about cleaner energy. There are a lot of opinions out there on ethanol fuel. I’m going to touch on both sides of the spectrum. While we visited the Iowa Speedway, the fastest short track in the world, we were able to talk to members of the American Lung Association about the energy source of ethanol. Currently 60-70% of pollution is caused by mobile transportation. They showed us the difference between gasoline burning and ethanol burning. This shows just how much pollution can come from pure gasoline. As you can see in the picture, ethanol burned much cleaner.
    Burning fuel
    Did you know that 98% of gas sold today has at least 10% ethanol in it? Some states even have laws that require ALL the gasoline in their state to have ethanol fuel in it. Those states have seen what a positive impact clean fuel can have on the environment.
    While ethanol can be great for the air quality, it is not so great for small engines. Small engine machines such as, boats, motorcycles, yard tools, and snow blowers are not compatible with ethanol fuel, however, many cars are. If you’re wondering if your car can use ethanol fuel, you can look for a sticker on the bumper that will tell you, the owners manual should also say something about it, lastly many vehicles 2001 and newer are compatible with ethanol fuel. Educate yourself and then help keep our air clean.
  • No Waste:
    When visiting the Blair Family farm, Kellie Blair told us how they sell their corn to ethanol processing plants, then turn around and buy back those part of the corn that aren’t used for ethanol and it is used as feed for their animals. Not one bit of distillers’ grain is wasted in the process of creating this energy source. The factories that make ethanol even go so far as to capture the Co2 that is released during the process and reuse it in things like fizzy drinks. Now that is using something for all it’s worth. By not wasting any of the corn money is saved and our environment is helped.A handful of Iowa Corn
  • GMO’s aren’t as bad as we think:
    I know there are a lot of controversial opinions surrounding Genetically Modified Organisms, and I am not looking to get in a debate. Instead, I want to say I didn’t know much about GMO’s when I went to Iowa. After having lunch with Ruth MacDonald, PhD, RD, a professor and Chair of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State University, I feel like I understand them a bit more. I also now understand why GMO seeds are necessary. There are places in the world that crops would not be able to grow without GMO seeds.
  • Organic isn’t always what it seems:
    One thing that I was shocked to learn was that just because something is labeled organic does not mean it is pesticide free. In fact, pesticides are necessary for protecting crops while they grow.
    When crops don’t come from GMO seeds they have to be sprayed with pesticides. That means those crops actually have a larger dose of the pesticide than the crop that was grown from the GMO seed. The farmers we met in Iowa use GMO seeds to help their crops which in turn helps everyone else, including our environment. These farmers really are dedicated to our planet. One farmer said they know how controversial GMO is, but they feed it to their families, and asked why they, the ones who grow the corn, would feed their families something inferior?

Visiting the farms in Iowa

I loved learning all about corn from America’s farmers. It was also great to be educated on two topics that can be quite controversial, ethanol fuel and GMO seeds. This trip to Iowa has taught me that I need to put much more research into the foods and fuel I use in my daily life and I hope you all do the same. It also taught me that corn can be used in so many different ways, even desserts! Corn Cream is probably the tastiest thing I’ve ever tried.

Lucky for you guys I ate all sorts of food dishes involving corn while in Iowa, which means I had to make a recipe for all of you inspired by this trip!

To learn more about corn, and all the amazing things it is used in, and how the dedicated Iowa family farmers are producing corn visit iowacorn.org.

21shares
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Yummly

Related

Related categories:
Lifestylecorn production corn quest Iowa corn learn about corn

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Aimee Shugarman says

    October 26, 2018 at 10:25 am

    Thank you for sharing your insight! There's so much out there about GMO's it's good to hear this perspective.
    Reply
  2. Kara says

    October 26, 2018 at 12:37 pm

    Farmers are some of the best people around, and boy am I grateful for the hard work they do! We love corn at my house, and I didn't realize how many foods it's in until I was put on a one month diet that eliminated corn. It was terrible, especially not being able to have popcorn!
    Reply
  3. Andie Thueson says

    October 26, 2018 at 1:05 pm

    I am a huge fan of corn! How fun to go and spend time with the farmers and learn more about such an amazing food that is such a big part of all of our lives.
    Reply
  4. Emily Hill says

    October 26, 2018 at 1:26 pm

    I love learning more about where our food comes from especially when you can visit local farmers. Corn is for sure a favorite in our home!
    Reply
  5. Krissy Allori says

    October 27, 2018 at 6:31 am

    How fun! Wow... I actually learned quite a few things about one of my favorite foods! I always love learning about food directly from the source.
    Reply
    • Rachael says

      October 28, 2018 at 11:27 am

      I agree, and the farmers are so dedicated and kind. Makes me think more about what we are eating.
      Reply
  6. discord servers says

    October 29, 2018 at 3:28 am

    Thank you for this post. Best of luck!
    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Rachael from Eazy Peazy Mealz

Welcome, I'm Rachael!

I’m a mom of 4 great kids that keep me super busy.

My philosophy is cooking has to be easy, tasty, kid approved, and fit between homework, piano practice, soccer, and the MOUNTAINS of laundry in my life! Read More Work With Me
Take the Hassle Out of Meal Time!
FREE EMAIL COURSE + Printable Recipe Binder!
 
Easy, quick prep meals your family will want to eat sent straight to your inbox!
Thank you for subscribing!

Crock Pot Meals

Crock Pot Philly Cheesesteak (Keto)

Crockpot grape jelly meatballs are the perfect party appetizer.

Crockpot Grape Jelly Meatballs

A bowl full of bolognese made in the slow cooker.

Bolognese Slow Cooker

A bowl of chicken parmesan casserole

Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan

20 Minute Meals

Pop hearts, homemade pop tarts, flakey pie crust stuffed with raspberry jam and baked to golden perfection.
A cuban sandwich
Pad see ew a thai stir fry noodle with vegetables, so delicious, so easy to make.
A hot stack of buttermilk pancakes and syrup being poured over the top

Free Kitchen Binder eBook

Let's Do This!

browse allRecipes By Method

slow cook

Sheet Pan

Air Fryer

Instant Pot

Grill/Smoke

One Pot

Skillet

Let's Work Together

Hi, I'm Rachael, and I am obsessed with sharing quality products and solid recipes. I can work with you to develop, test and create original recipes and content using YOUR products, and share it across Eazy Peazy Mealz blog and social channels, reaching thousands of dedicated readers.

Let's Do This

Footer

Eazy Peazy Meals
  • About
  • Contact
  • Start Here
  • Disclosure
  • Privacy Policy
Copyright ©2023, Easy Peasy Meals. All Rights Reserved.
Design by Pixel Me Designs
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Yummly